WEEK 5 Jan 20th to 26th 2003

   Wolves: THE SILENT DEATH

   Major parts of the current human population have for a long time, now, attempted to sweep the Earth clean of wolves, and they have nearly succeeded. Only pockets of wolf tribes survive around the world. In Norway and Sweden farmers and financial interests have been vocal opponents to the feeble conservation attempts for many years. A hysteria of hatred directed at the wolf and everything "dangerous" and natural has dominated the areas containing wandering packs of wolves. Politicians supporting preservation haven't been reelected. Some has even been driven from their homes. Norway and Sweden's central governments, quoting the international treaty (that Norway has joined) concerning the diversity of species, have half heartedly defended the "right" of the wolf to live "within certain areas", while parts of Norwegian administrations actively have aided those seeking to eradicate the wolf from the surface of the Earth. One such "administrative decision led to the death of an entire wolf pack a couple of years ago.
   And now quietly, during the course of the previous year wolves have been shot or otherwise killed one by one. Rumors have gone about "people killing wolves". There have been a few, short notices in media, but few have raised their voices in protest. Nearly everybody seems to be in agreement about letting the wolf go silently into the night. Shots in the night, poisoned deer bodies. Wolves found close to railway tracks, filled with poison, the evidence is clear, but few are raising their voices.
   Death is hiding in man's ignorance and fear.